Brown: Richardson Couldn't Carry the Load for the Browns

Published on 26-Sep-2013 by Stacey Mickles

Football - NFL    NFL Daily Update

Share this article


Brown: Richardson Couldn't Carry the Load for the Browns

In the 'Who Didn't See This Coming?' department, former Cleveland Browns running back great Jim Brown expressed his opinion about the Browns trading first-round draft choice running back, Trent Richardson.

To no one's surprise, Brown supports the move and thinks the organization did the right thing by trading Richardson.

“I was surprised,” Brown said of the trade. “But then I thought it was a brilliant move … Because first of all, Trent [Richardson] couldn’t have carried the kind of load that Cleveland needed.”

Brown wasn't a fan of Richardson since Cleveland drafted him last year. He said from the beginning that Richardson was nothing special. Oh, he tried to back off his comments, but like the Brownies, he never gave the young running back a chance to prove himself, although Richardson did break Brown's rookie touchdown record last year.

I often wondered if Brown was just afraid that Richardson would prove himself to be better than him and his label of 'greatest Cleveland Brown player of all-time' would be taken from him.

Brown hasn't touched the ball in what, almost 50 years, and no one has come close to what he had accomplished. The closest would probably be Leroy Kelly, an awesome back in his own right.

Now, that may say something about how great Jim Brown is, but it also says what a lousy organization the Cleveland Browns are.

Each great team has legends, but they also had other great players to follow. The Cowboys had Tony Dorsett, but Emmitt Smith followed him. The 49ers had Joe Montana, but Steve Young followed him. The Colts had Peyton Manning, but Andrew Luck followed him. The Dolphins had Dan Marino, and Ryan Tannehhill may be following him. OK, that last pairing is a bad example, but you get what I am saying.

To have no one after all these years follow Jim Brown's legacy in Cleveland says more about the Browns organization than it does about Trent Richardson.